I've been doing Muay Thai with the University club on and off since August, and I feel like although my round kick form once I get into the kick is getting decent, I'm having trouble actually initiating the kick. Everyone I talk to seems to have a different way of starting it. I think I started by throwing my back hand behind me, but then I realized I had a bad habit of not keeping guard with my front hand, so I started throwing my front hand back first. Another guy I'm working out with for the summer says he starts by pivoting out his front foot, but he admits to being more of a boxer than a kicker.

I feel like I'm not getting enough power and moving the bag as much as I should be. Even though I feel like my Thai kick has more power and viciousness than any of our kicks from Japanese JJ, a simple side kick will send the heavy bag flying while my round kick moves it only a couple feet. For the record, I'm 5'6 155 lbs so I'm not sure what to expect from my kicks. So, how do you guys start off you kicks?

dwkfym

7/01/2010 2:53pm,

Don't worry about the bag moving. Side kick push a lot and it is less impact, so it will move.

Your hand movements, if moving at all from the guard, should just happen naturally. Don't think about them to initiate your kick, except to keep the non-kicking side hand up. You do not initiate a kick with upper body movement. Actually, from reading your post I will tell you that non kicking side hand should be up next to your cheek at ALL TIMES!

Make sure your stnding foot is pivoting. Biggest newbie mistake. It should be basically turning almost all the way around as you rotate through the kick.

I'm not a big fan of pivoting BEFORE the kick is initiated, but a lot of schools teach that way. Just make sure that by the time your foot is out there, you are pivoted all the way. If you don't do that it is impossible to get enough hip rotation.

It sounds like the OP hasn't mastered the proper form yet to do a basic round kick.

Danja

7/01/2010 3:59pm,

Don't worry about the bag moving. Side kick push a lot and it is less impact, so it will move.

Your hand movements, if moving at all from the guard, should just happen naturally. Don't think about them to initiate your kick, except to keep the non-kicking side hand up. You do not initiate a kick with upper body movement. Actually, from reading your post I will tell you that non kicking side hand should be up next to your cheek at ALL TIMES!

Make sure your stnding foot is pivoting. Biggest newbie mistake. It should be basically turning almost all the way around as you rotate through the kick.

I'm not a big fan of pivoting BEFORE the kick is initiated, but a lot of schools teach that way. Just make sure that by the time your foot is out there, you are pivoted all the way. If you don't do that it is impossible to get enough hip rotation.

Thanks for the tips. I'm still not sure how to start though. If you don't like pivoting with your foot before the kick, then what is your first motion? A push off the rear leg?

That clip interests me for two reasons. The first is that the guy says to put your hand by your forehead while everyone else (including dwkfym) says to put it by your cheek. At our club they never said specifically where it goes; just that it stays in guard. I'd taken to having it somewhat bent around my chin at the elbow to protect from a counter to the jaw.

The second reason is that I'm always being told not to step when I do a kick, and I spent a lot of time trying to break the habit. :(

CrackFox

7/01/2010 5:08pm,

Hand on the forehead and hand on the jaw are both legit. Personally I prefer to have it by the jaw. I'd also say that there's a certain kind of stepping that newbies do (like a little jig), that you need to get under control. Once you can do a standing kick, then you can start doing ones where you step out to get more power.

Ok thinking it through, the sequence I use for a roundhouse with the back (right) leg is
1) right hand goes forward like I'm doing a right cross and I push slightly with my right leg
2) At some point a good bit short of it being a right cross, my hand starts to go out to the right, I bring my right leg up and go on to the ball of my left foot.
3) the hips start swinging to bring the kick in, my shoulders counter rotate to give more torque, and generally it feels a bit like swinging a bat.
4) Kick goes through the target.

(How does that description sound to everyone else? Admittedly, I don't have the best technique or ability to explain these things)

dwkfym

7/01/2010 7:49pm,

To answer your question I think the first motion should be the kick off. All else follows. Either that, or the step-off but that depends on how you train. I recommend the kick-off as your "first motion" but really, all of that happens at the same time. You do not want to be thinking moving hands first because if you start mechanically moving your hands first it will telegraph. At the same time, if you force yourself not to move before your foot does, your kick quality might suffer. Just focus on getting the hip rotation and foot rotation down and all else should happen naturally.

Vorpal

7/01/2010 9:48pm,

Danja, you think too much. Step and kick. You don't want to move the bag, you want to transfer as much energy as possible into the bag.